Greenville's Four 14 promises energetic show, expansive jams

Wednesday

Nov 14, 2012 at 10:21 AM

The music of Greenville's Four 14 band draws from many different sources.

By VINCENT HARRISFor 85-26.com

The music of Greenville's Four 14 band draws from many different sources. Their blend of drums and hand-percussion-spiked polyrhythms brings to mind the jazz-rock fusion work of Santana, the wailing sax brings a pinch of old-school soul, and the expansive jams the band unleashes are pure Grateful Dead. Whether utilizing their unique sound on their own compositions or covers, Four 14's singular musical attack gets people's attention. The band formed in 2009, and singer Kyle Rowland says that determining the lineup wasn't that difficult. “We were a bunch of best friends, basically,” Rowland said. “We were just all hanging out, and all played instruments, so we just decided to jam.” The band took their musical approach seriously, enough so that, after an initial performance, they took an extended hiatus to prepare as much as possible. “We started in late 2009, and then didn't play again until mid-2010,” Rowland said. “We played one show and then didn't play another show for around six months, while we were trying to get all of our stuff together.” The band was initially a quintet, with percussionist Mark Ashley handling the bottom end on his own until 2011, when the group added drummer Chris Bradley. “The biggest thing that made us add a drummer was the intensity of our music,” Rowland said. “It was very important to keep the hand-percussion also, but we wanted to be able to feel that we could play in front of 20,000 people, even if we weren't actually playing in front of 20,000 people. The drums and percussion together open up a whole different spectrum of the music, just in terms of the rhythms alone.” Rowland says that the band's unusual instrumental combination allows them to experiment, both with their own songs and covers. “We do some things that are different,” Rowland said, “a little oddball.” “Overall, we can break the songs down more and get going in different directions. But the main thing is just that we want to pay homage to the people we're inspired by. Music tends to recreate itself over and over again, and we think it's very important not to leave those influences behind.” As far as Four 14's live show goes, Rowland says the band is confident about their performance style. “Across the board, we want people to understand that when they come to a show, each person in the band plays a part in creating this sound,” he said. “We talk a lot about stage presence, but we don't have to put on stage presence. We get into what we're playing just as much as we want the crowd to get into it. I think that gets the people watching more involved in it. It's a very energetic show that can take you a lot of places through music, because there are so many different styles of music that we can play.”

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